Vettel plays down big points advantage in title race

With every rival team now focusing arguably harder on the big challenge of 2014, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel is increasingly seen as this year’s champion-elect.

Indeed, some are now wondering what the German’s eventual points margin over his nearest rival will be by the end of the season, or with how many races to spare he will officially be declared a quadruple world champion.

But Vettel is playing down that sort of talk in Singapore, where he has won for the past two years.

“I’m not trying to be champion with a particular points advantage,” he is quoted by the German news agency SID.

“I’m also not thinking about what the others are doing or what is good or bad for us in terms of points.”

Indeed, Vettel claims to have had no idea – until he was told by reporters on Thursday – that his advantage over Fernando Alonso is currently 53 points.

“There may be some who are bored of us winning so often, but not us,” he smiled. (GMM)